Bryan's Leap Colliery

Also known as	Bryans Leap Colliery
Location	Rowlands Gill, near Burnopfield (Tanfield parish), County Durham — 54.9169, -1.7402 (exact)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	By 1935–1950
Maximum depth	Unknown.
Operators	Barcus Close Coal Co. Ltd (?–1947), National Coal Board (1947–?)

Overview

A Barcus Close Coal Company colliery at Rowlands Gill whose Hutton and Main workings gave way in 1945 to a Three Quarter drift, worked by the National Coal Board with up to 142 men.

History

Bryan's Leap Colliery lay at Rowlands Gill, near Burnopfield, six and a half miles south-west of Newcastle, in the parish of Tanfield. The Barcus Close Coal Company worked it in the 1930s: in 1935 it had 51 men working the Hutton and Main for manufacturing coal, and 55 in 1940. The Hutton was abandoned in May 1938 and the Beaumont in March 1945; that year the colliery itself is recorded as abandoned and a drift in the Three Quarter seam employed 65 men.

The National Coal Board took it over in 1947, when 95 men raised 30,000 tons of coking, gas and steam coal. The Three Quarter drift employed 107 in 1948, 120 in 1949 and 142 from 1950. The Durham Mining Museum gives 1950 as its closing date, though its returns continue to 1952; a Durham County Council list of 2000 gives 1966, the year its neighbour Barcus Close closed.

Geology

North-west Durham coalfield: the Hutton, Main and Beaumont, then the Three Quarter by drift from 1945.

Workings

The colliery and, from 1945, a drift in the Three Quarter seam.

Closure

The Hutton was abandoned in 1938 and the Beaumont in 1945; the Three Quarter drift worked to the early 1950s.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

Barcus Close Colliery — Both worked by the Barcus Close Coal Co., about 450 metres apart near Burnopfield and Rowlands Gill.

Nearby mines

Barcus Close Colliery — 0.3 miles (0.4 km) SE
South Garesfield Colliery — 0.8 miles (1.3 km) SW, Tyne and Wear
Burnopfield Colliery — 1.2 miles (1.9 km) S
Lintz Colliery — 1.3 miles (2.1 km) SW
Victoria Garesfield Colliery — 1.4 miles (2.2 km) W, Tyne and Wear

Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (15 km). Show on the map.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

Bryan's Leap Colliery closed in 1950. (disputed) ¹
Bryan's Leap Colliery closed in 1966. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

The Barcus Close Coal Co. worked Bryan's Leap in the 1930s and 1945. ^1,2
A Three Quarter drift at Bryan's Leap, near Burnopfield, was worked from 1945. ^1,3
The Beaumont seam was abandoned in March 1945. ^4,5
In 1947 the colliery raised 30,000 tons with 95 men. ¹
Bryan's Leap Colliery closed in 1950. (disputed) ¹
Bryan's Leap Colliery closed in 1966. (disputed) ²

Photographs & further reading

Bryan's Leap Colliery (Durham Mining Museum) (reference)

The museum's page for the colliery, with its Barcus Close owners, the Three Quarter drift and its workforce to 1952.

View source

Sources

(primary) Bryan's Leap Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Durham Collieries: Bryan's Leap Colliery (Tanfield) — Durham County Record Office
(secondary) Durham Collieries: Bryans Leap Three Quarter Drift (Tanfield) — Durham County Record Office
(primary) Bryan's Leap Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) BGS mine plan: Bryan's Leap, Beaumont, 1945 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026